Working from home was supposed to be the great equaliser in the battle of the sexes, freeing up men and women alike to juggle changing nappies with filling out spreadsheets in their dressing gowns and slippers.

In practice, however, the revolution has backfired, according to a German study that suggests that flexible working practices have actually entrenched old-fashioned gender roles.

Fathers granted the liberty to choose when and where they work turn out to shirk on childcare, but put in between two and four extra hours of work each week, the research found. Mothers, on the other hand, tend to be left with a “double burden”, devoting three more hours to looking after their children when they work from home while also feeling compelled to